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Yenatar Malkerian
Date of Birth Fourth Sartai of Virkoin Irzanut, 577th Marnic Year. Date of Death Second Rigvarneu of Ñuedotei, 73rd Free Year, at 101 years old. Titles The Exalt-General; the Ever-Victorious; the Father (in Sraiyag Vacan); Lord-Commander of Sraiyag Vacan and Lord Malkerian (when alive); Śàqu Ênorath (in Ghiñêsraf, “far walker”; the main name for Yenatar among the elves); the Last Rose; Kartaṡ-Urek (in the languages of the orcs, “the unstoppable one”; the main name for Yenatar among the orcs). History The origins of House Malkerian remain mysterious due to the destruction of their records in the Ruin of Marnoz. From analyses of what genealogical charts remain, we can reconstruct no more than the name of Yenatar’s paternal grandfather, Faugadre Malkerian, and those of his parents, Kaiyunstor his father, and Haemun his mother. Yenatar himself never met his grandparents, and by the time that peace finally came to Kerlonna, he could no longer remember their names. He was the only child of his parents to survive childhood, and if there was an extended family within House Malkerian, it was destroyed or lost with the Ruin of Marnoz. What we know of Yenatar’s childhood was mainly recounted by the man himself, many decades after the fact. It would seem that even from an early age, he possessed the sharp intellect, remarkable evenness of spirit, and unheard-of charisma that would mark his later years. His parents raised him with great affection and concern for his well-being, rather than have him become involved in political affairs from his youth. House Malkerian was not a particularly powerful House in the days of the Federation, though it was respected for its honesty and willingness to contribute to charities. In his adolescence, Yenatar showed a great interest in military history and in political organisation and legal codes, and his parents proudly believed that he would become a great general, and eventually a Senator or a Provincial Governor. He stunned his slave-teachers with his insight and his wisdom, and his insatiable reading taught him of everything that the Federation knew of Kerlonna and beyond. When he reached adulthood at his twentieth year, in MY 597, he was betrothed to the fairest daughter of House Inriadva, by the name of Tuarlenne, and all knew them to be the closest and most loving of the children of the Marnic Houses. Yenatar even inspired the dislike and irritation of Tuarlenne’s elder brother, Simvara, who thought that Yenatar was “too wholesome” and of no particular worthiness to marry into a ranking House of the Main Senate. However, it seems that Simvara’s scepticism eventually faded after meeting Yenatar in person and speaking with him on the matter. In the same year, Yenatar was elected by the elderly General Talvenat Uñkices as a successor and student in military training. This was extremely controversial among the military hierarchy of the Federal Legions: normally, generals-in-training were only chosen by age thirty-five or so. To elect a twenty year-old was unprecedented. However, Talvenat Uñkices was also one of the most influential and powerful of the Federal Generals, and none dared to challenge him openly. Many other legionary officers who had been vying for Talvenat’s favour became bitterly resentful of Yenatar’s newfound authority over them, and two even resigned their posts in protest. Yenatar himself was undisturbed by this controversy. He did what he could to assuage the angered officers, yet was adamantly firm in his conviction to train as Talvenat’s student. He deeply admired his tutor’s piety, courage, and moral integrity, and Yenatar was proud, many years later, to name his first son by his second wife for General Uñkices. Yenatar and Tuarlenne were married in the autumn of MY 598, establishing their household in a small villa estate ten miles northeast of the city of Marnoz. Their first child, Duariya, was born in the summer of 599. During this time, his training under Talvenat Uñkices continued unabated, with the tutor dazzled by his student’s willpower and intellect. The other military officers of the Legions grew increasingly embittered against the young Malkerian, yet remained unwilling to move against him: the General Uñkices was an extremely influential man, and he would not hesitate to strip his student’s enemies of their military rank if they should conspire against Yenatar openly. In MY 602, General Uñkices died peacefully in his sleep. According to military procedure, Yenatar Malkerian, at the age of twenty-five, was raised to the rank of General of the Eleventh Legion. The Eleventh Legion was then stationed in the rural region immediately west of the Àŋerwoi Forest: a militarily nigh-on useless area for a young general to train in, which had been granted to General Uñkices in order for him to enjoy a slow retirement. Yenatar petitioned his superiors for a new stationing, but he was ignored: the influence of his rivals had grown as the years passed. Therefore, Yenatar contented himself with the stationing, and quickly began to retrain the Eleventh Legion, which had grown lax over the years. Bandits in the region were scattered and executed, while elven raiders were pursued back into the depths of their forests. The area became far safer than before, and Yenatar’s reputation was only strengthened. His reputation was soon established for military flexibility and humility, which won over some of his rivals but only further angered others. His second son, Gilra, was born in the spring of 602, just as Yenatar left the villa for his stationing to the northeast. In MY 604, the orcs had begun their invasion of northern Kerlonna, spreading across the coast and attacking the frontier settlements. Though the Senates, of course, sorely underestimated the matter, Yenatar did not. Hearing of reports of orcish assaults, he left his stationing for Marnoz, where he petitioned the Main Senate and military command to act. He emphasised that this was no mere attempt at raiding and pillaging, but a concerted attempt to destroy whole peoples: the villages were swiftly destroyed, their farms put to the torch, and their inhabitants hunted like game. He declared ominously that the orcs were fulfilling the same role that the drow had in the Marches of Smoke. However, his entreaties went ignored for months, until that summer, when, after weeks of urging, his rivals successfully arranged for the Eleventh Legion to be relocated far from Marnoz, to the Janhlira provinces to the northwest. Now his access to the Senates would be nearly nonexistent. There, he was assured, orcs were plentiful, and he could fight them as much as he desired. Therefore, he did. His Legion was established in the southern Janhlira regions, in an island upon the Owamtu River called Oksyrs. He built a fortress there called the Rook, and began organising the Janhlira forces into serviceable soldiers. Dozens of raids were precluded or held off by his heroic leadership, and in only two years, he had gained a reputation even among the orcs themselves. The Rook quickly grew into a sprawling complex, and the soldiers beneath him began to regard him with almost worshipful eyes. Across the lands he rode, engaging the orcs repeatedly to protect the Janhlira peoples. The Janhlira, usually used to prejudiced treatment from their Marnic masters, were startled and greatly gladdened by his heroism. At this same time, a state of emergency was declared by the High Senate due to growing orcish attacks in other regions, especially along Kerlonna’s eastern coast. Though Yenatar attempted to communicate with the Marnic high command and inform them of his strategies for combating the orcs, his messages were intercepted by his rivals and destroyed. The only communication that Yenatar had from then on was with his wife, whom he missed terribly during his long campaign. While elsewhere in Kerlonna the situation worsened, Yenatar’s brilliant command in the Janhlira provinces became extremely well known. Soon, other Legions began to buckle before the relentless orcish attacks, and the survivors of these forces wandered towards Yenatar, where they melded into his new army. He received a stern reprimand from the High Senate in MY 609 (FY 4). It informed him that he was harbouring deserters. The Senate demanded that he deliver these individuals as prisoners to Marnoz, where they would almost certainly be imprisoned or even executed for simply attempting to survive the orcs. Yenatar ignored this, and trained these deserters to serve under his unusually expanded Eleventh Legion. A year later, orcs attacked the city of Marnoz itself, unsuccessfully attempting to breach its northern gate. In the wake of this attack, the Senates tangibly felt their authority crumbling as hundreds of people began leaving the city permanently. In an attempt to re-establish their dominance, the Senates sent a second message to Yenatar, in which they demanded that he deliver up the deserters and sign an oath of loyalty to the Federation. Yenatar was astonished and outraged. He passionately replied that he had spent the last six years away from his family, struggling to protect the innocent Janhlira against the ravaging orcs, and he furthermore declared that the Senates had done nothing to aid him in that struggle. He refused to sign the oath, and instead said, “If I must be an outlaw, know that I serve the Saruyg-Väc, not the Senates!” referring to the founders of Marnoz and their original laws for the city. He was branded an outlaw in the Federation, and, in order to escape political persecution, his wife, sons, and parents went into hiding. His Eleventh Legion was soon renamed “the Last Legion,” a dark joke regarding the dismal state of affairs among the rest of the Marnic military. The years passed, and the Great Orc-Wars, as they had come to be known, simply worsened. The cities of the Tlankuram were repeatedly raided, and although the orcs were rebuffed each time, the cities grew quiet as thousands of people fled. Refugee populations wandered across Kerlonna, preyed upon by orcish attackers and human bandits, and with them came famine and disease. Idroslekh seceded from the Federation in FY 5, followed by the Injili cities in FY 7: the Legions formerly cowing their respective nobilities had disintegrated. Though House Elthorian remained loyal to Marnic codes of law, the Twelve Isles ceased to recognise the Marnic Federation as their governing nation in FY 7: there had been no communication between the Elthorians and Marnoz for two years by that point. The Free Year rendering of dates began to spread across Kerlonna at this point, beginning among the Injili and becoming the norm throughout southern Kerlonna and Idroslekh. During this dark period, Yenatar fought some of the bloodiest battles of his military career. At one point in the summer of FY 6, the Rook was infiltrated by orcs, leading to the deaths of almost three thousand soldiers and one thousand civilians in the course of a single morning. However, his armies continued to grow: nonhumans now began to follow his armies, particularly elves whose forests the orcs had burned down. The Last Legion had grown from a small, strictly regimented unit of Marnic soldiers, to a sprawling mass of former legionaries, Janhlira raiders, vengeful elven and halfling refugees, and Parumya horsemen. In the autumn of FY 8, Yenatar now sent out a new summons across the land: the Federation was failing, and its people would be devoured by the rampaging orcish hordes if they did not act. He extended an open invitation to all Marnics, offering his protection for their women and children, and recruitment to his army for their men. As soon as this news reached the Tlankuram, it sparked one of the largest mass migrations in history, as tens of thousands of refugees, noble and low, began to make the arduous march west from the orc-haunted shores of the Tlankuram to the valley of the Owamtu River. High House Sakvaru, alone among the founding Houses of Marnoz, declared the Marnic Federation “a memory lost in smoke,” and withdrew from the High Senate. It was immediately censured by the remaining eleven High Houses, and the patriarch of High House Sakvaru, Kutielrig, was assassinated by agents of High House Yadnorsae. In the late spring of FY 9, High House Sakvaru’s surviving members (around three fifths of the original population) arrived in the Janhlira territories, where they declared Yenatar their liege lord. When news of this reached Marnoz, a final political chaos descended on the Senates. The “desertion” of High House Sakvaru had only angered the conservative faction of the High Senate, but for its members to declare a low-ranking nobleman like Yenatar Malkerian their lord was inflammatory. Brawls between supporters and opponents of the so-called “Lord Malkerian” became bloodily common in the city streets. One family drama of two moderate-ranking Houses would soon come to shape the history of Kerlonna. Daniira, a young and proud woman from House Navgarst, had become extremely dissatisfied with the political orientation of her betrothed, Glebaryuv of House Zenali. Glebaryuv remained an ardent opponent of Yenatar’s actions, describing them as “poisonous to all that Marnoz stands for.” Daniira publicly repudiated Glebaryuv as a craven, rejected her betrothal, and declared Yenatar to be her liege lord. She then hastily left the city, promising the fellow members of House Navgarst that they would be welcome in the Owamtu Valley. However, they refused to follow her, aghast at what they perceived to be her arrogance and radicalism. With only a few retainers, Daniira made her way to the Janhlira territories, where she first met the Lord Malkerian. Yenatar had remained in correspondence with his wife for the many years in which the two had been physically estranged, and his love for her had lessened at all. The arrival of Daniira, therefore, caused him some consternation, for she was a deeply attractive woman who sought his close and personal counsel. To remedy this, Yenatar never allowed himself to be alone with Daniira or to sit by her side at the table, but instead strictly treated her as he would any other loyal vassal. For her part, Daniira carefully respected Yenatar’s wishes, but, curiously, did not pursue the interests of other Janhlira or refugee Marnic noblemen. In FY 10, Daniira was stricken by a terrible nightmare, in which she saw a beautiful grove catch fire and burn down to ashes, while the forest animals shrieked in terror and agony. Urgently she searched for someone of magical power, eventually finding a cleric of the Janhlira, and asked him to send a message to the members of her family. She discovered that House Navgarst was in disarray, for her father had died, attempting to flee Marnoz for Herarzä and then the Janhlira territories when his ship was attacked and sunk by orcs. Putting aside this grief, she summoned her family to the territories, offering the protection of the Last Legion. They heartily agreed: Glebaryuv had fled the city in the face of yet another orcish raid, and five of the High Houses had followed him in ignominious terror. Daniira then attempted to speak with Yenatar about her nightmare, convinced that it was a sign that something truly awful was soon to occur. However, the Last Legion had then been recently struggling with orcish attackers in the Usiytak territories (which had just recently, after crushing losses, surrendered their newfound sovereignty to Yenatar’s forces), and Lord Malkerian was too preoccupied with this to act on her advice. He told her that he suspected it was merely a sign of her worries in daily life, and advised her to rest. Two months later, Marnoz fell. When the news reached Yenatar, he did not think of the destroyed Temple, or of the slaughtered masses, or of the desecration of the dead. Instead, he thought only of his wife and two sons. With mad urgency, he gathered the most loyal of his soldiers, and left control of the Last Legion to his lieutenant, a Janhlira named Shepyarin. For weeks, Yenatar and his soldiers rode as fast as they dared, taking wild forest trails where they needed to in order to evade time-consuming skirmishes with the orcs. In the foothills west of Eädreñ, they came across an orcish party of about fifty raiders, whom they destroyed. In the hands of the leader, Yenatar discovered a necklace that he had given his wife during their betrothal. His horror was so great that the other soldiers reported him to have fallen to his knees, his face shaking and white. They continued to ride, reaching the city of Eädreñ two days later. The city’s wooden buildings were ash, while the central district was home only to a ragged refugee force of legionary soldiers and a few surviving priests dispensing holy water upon the hideously burned survivors of the fire. The orcs had passed through the city like a scythe on their way to Marnoz, tearing through its defences through overwhelming force of arms, and seizing as many ships as they could from the harbour. Though several weeks had passed since the attack, a great column of smoke still rose from the ashes: unnatural smoke, with demonic faces within it and a bone-white pallor. When they reached Amvidra, they found it a quiet, abandoned city. The orcs had demolished the main temple, and what few survivors were left only emerged at night to pick through the rubble. Yenatar was given shelter by a lonely Marnic nobleman who had survived the attack and who explained that the orcs had swarmed to Marnoz as if with desperation. No refugees had arrived from the capital city in the weeks that had passed. Yenatar, seized with urgency, had his soldiers construct a ship from the wreckage of an old building: the fleet at Amvidra had been stolen or destroyed by the orcs during their attack, just as in Eädreñ. After three days, they set sail eastwards. At noon on the third day, they found the ruins of Marnoz. According to the report, Yenatar put his face in his hands and wept, while several of his soldiers tore at their hair in a frenzy of grief. Not a single building remained standing. Everything was scorched black. It was silent as a winter pond, but for the wind sighing amidst the broken walls. Although the soldiers from the northwest screamed and called out, hoping that some sort of survivor might hear them, their cries were returned only with deathly silence. The expedition made its way to the ruins of the High Temple, where they knelt and paid homage to the fallen servants of the Marnic gods. After his prayers were finished, Yenatar led the soldiers northeast, through the ruins, and out into the countryside surrounding Marnoz. The great villas and quiet farms had been put to the torch. The livestock had been slaughtered for meat or let loose by the orcs, and the dogs and cats of the land had become wandering, feral creatures. Yenatar led his soldiers all the way to his own villa, where they found the main building still standing, though the orcs had attempted to set fire to its southern wing. Yenatar’s wife, two sons, and parents, who had been living in secrecy due to Yenatar’s political infamy, were buried in the courtyard. The preserved food within the kitchens had all been removed. Based on this, Yenatar inferred that some among the villa’s servants had survived the attack, staying long enough to fulfil their duties to their masters, and then had departed for unknown territories. While his soldiers had been expecting terrible anguish on the Lord Malkerian’s part, he did nothing of the kind: instead, he walked among the gardens, plucking flowers to place by the crudely made headstones. At times a shadowy melancholy set over him, while at others he smiled and laughed as he walked among the gardens where once he had played with his sons and eaten meals with his wife. They spent a week at the villa, Yenatar recuperating amid the remnants of his old life. Then, one fine morning, they set out again to return to the Janhlira provinces. During their ride to the west, the expedition was ambushed along the southern shores of the Tlankuram, and although the orcs were defeated, most of the soldiers were slain. Yenatar received a glancing blow to the head from an axe (his helmet protecting him from the axe’s blade), and collapsed, insensate. When he was roused several hours later, he was strangely invigorated and alert. Though the rest of his soldiers had been in a mood of defeat and despair since they witnessed the ruins of Marnoz, Yenatar was now suddenly filled with energy and ambition. He informed the soldiers that he would be going to Ezluthai, the city of the Nyadegtaan. The surviving soldiers were immediately concerned for Yenatar’s sanity. Not one human in history had yet entered that hidden city: it had taken Teyor Elthorian, one of the greatest wizards who ever lived, most of his power simply to spy upon it from the mountain heights. However, though they tried to advise him otherwise, Yenatar would not be dissuaded from his bizarre new goal. After long deliberation, Yenatar realised on his own that the soldiers would only prove a hindrance on his new quest. Therefore, in the silence of a late summer night, Yenatar slipped from the encampment and travelled west. Without even a horse to carry him, the Lord Malkerian sometimes took the roads, but more often made his way through forest and field, always turned west towards the Vrotispal Mountains. For long weeks, he marched through the wilds, relentlessly bound for Ezluthai, reflecting on the goal that stood before him. Such urgency seized him that he only slept for four hours a night, spending the rest of the night travelling, even in the darkest nights of the new moons. Alone, he reached the foothills of the mountain, and began to ascend its forested slopes. Alone, he endured lashing winds and rain—magical defences established by the Nyadegtaan to ward off outsiders. Alone, he stepped through the enchanted fog that perpetually girdles the middle of the slopes. Alone, he discovered the secret trails that returning Nyadegtaan followed on their way home. When, at last, he reached the entrance to the tunnel that led through the mountain’s stone towards Ezluthai, the guards there did not know what to make of him. They attempted to intimidate him with their draconic hisses and gasps of shocking breath, but he was entirely unfazed. He simply said, “Step aside,” and bodily shoved them out of his way. The guards did not attempt to restrain him, for they did not know what to make of him. His gaze, boring into them like diamond, caused them to recoil from his relentless advance. After a long, lightless journey through the tunnel, Yenatar arrived at the edge of the city, where he did not stop, but relentlessly went onwards down into the streets. The Nyadegtaan stared at him, and those that attempted to stand in his way he simply pushed aside. He proceeded to the lake at the heart of the city, paying the astonished ferryman with gold, and he was taken from the lakeshore over to the island at the heart of the city, and the Hall of the Ixatsoth. How he knew that the Hall was the home to the rulers of Ezluthai and the Nyadegtaan is unknown. He was received in utter silence. The Ixatsoth were assembled there, for some among their sorcerers had had premonitions of his coming. There were no shouts of outrage at his intrusion into their realm, nor any angry mutterings. There were only leaden stares coming from all around, as the Ixatsoth awaited some sort of explanation. Unconcerned by their even gaze or by the marvels and wonders to be found in the Hall’s construction, Yenatar strode up into the centre of their assembly, where he declared, in the Old Marnic tongue, “There is but one face of perdition.” He began to speak, expounding in detail what he knew of the orcs factually, what he had seen them do, and how numerous they were. He began with his voice soft and almost submissive, but slowly gaining volume and quickening in tempo. He was completely confident despite the bizarre nature of his circumstances: he had seen utter ruin, and he would not allow it to happen again. As he began to arrest the Ixatsoth with his terrible accounts of war and devastation, something very strange began to happen. The sorcerers, feeling their draconic blood “running wild,” asked Yenatar to give them access to his thoughts and memories through magic. He acquiesced, and the sorcerers opened a telepathic link between themselves and Yenatar. Almost immediately, a great cry went up from the Nyadegtaan, for somehow, this telepathic communication ran far beyond what they expected, giving every one of the Nyadegtaan terrible and glorious visions: the ruins of Marnoz; the slaughter of whole villages by orcish abandon; triumphant marches of the Last Legion from its latest engagement; vast hordes of orcs overrunning elven forests as fire devoured the trees.